Elvis Costello Retires ‘Oliver’s Army’ Due To Racist Lyric

Elvis Costello has retired performing his 1979 hit “Oliver's Army” due to its use the of “n-word.” Costello, who's also asked radio to stop playing the track, wrote the song about the problems in Northern Ireland, which includes the line, “Only takes one itchy trigger/ One more widow, one less white n*****.”

Coming on Friday (January 14th) is Elvis Costello & The Imposters' latest album, The Boy Called If. The new set, which is Costello's 32nd album, is the followup to 2020's Hey Clockface.

While chatting to The Independent, Costello explained his new stance on “Oliver's Army” — a massive UK hit, which spent three weeks at Number Two and garnered considerable U.S. AOR airplay: “If I wrote that song today, maybe I’d think twice about it. That’s what my grandfather was called in the British army — it’s historically a fact — but people hear that word go off like a bell and accuse me of something that I didn’t intend. On the last tour, I wrote a new verse about censorship, but what’s the point of that? So I’ve decided I’m not going to play it. (Bleeping the word out) is a mistake. They’re making it worse by bleeping it for sure. Because they’re highlighting it then. Just don’t play the record!”

He went on to say, “You know what. It would do me a favor (by not playing it). Because when I fall under a bus, they’ll play (my covers of Charles Aznavour's) 'She,' (the George Jones standard) 'Good Year For The Roses,' and ‘Oliver's Army.' I’ll die, and they will celebrate my death with two songs I didn’t write. What does that tell you?”

Back in the day, when Elvis Costello was clearly the voice and face of rock's “New Wave” movement, he had a pretty level-headed look at how to deal with fame: “It doesn't bother me, I just take it as it comes. I don't think about how big it's gonna be. I don't have any aspirations in that sense. It doesn't really bother me, y'know, that people are building it up in one way or another. If I see that it's getting too out of hand or they're not being realistic, then I can say things clearly. But I tend not to think about what might happen and think about what is actually happening and what I'm actually doing.”

Elvis Costello & The Imposters will kick off a 13-date UK tour on June 5th in Brighton, England.